Bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza are seen after they were transported to al-Shifa Hospital on October 17, 2023. (Photo by AP)
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has roundly dismissed the Israeli militarys allegations that the Gaza-based group was responsible for a strike on a packed hospital compound in central Gaza, rejecting the claims as "downright lies."
"The Zionist enemy is trying hard to evade its responsibility for the brutal massacre it committed by bombing the Anglican-run al-Ahli al-Arab Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, in Gaza through fabrication of lies and pinning the blame on the Islamic Jihad movement," it said in a statement on Wednesday.
"We, therefore, affirm that the accusations put forward by the enemy are false and baseless," the resistance movement stressed.
According to the statement, the hospital had been ordered to evacuate by the Tel Aviv regime under threat of bombardment, and it was a bomb dropped by an Israeli warplane that caused the tragedy.
It said the hospital had "received public notice of evacuation under threat of bombing."
On Tuesday night, an Israeli air raid on Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza killed at least 500 people, according to Palestinians, in one of the worst attacks since the violence began on October 7.
Gazas Health Ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra, said on Wednesday that hundreds were killed and rescue workers were still removing bodies from the rubble.
The bombardment of the hospital in Gaza triggered a wave of anger and protests across the Middle East, with protesters taking to the streets to condemn the deadly attack.
Pro-Palestinian protests were also staged at Israeli embassies in Jordan as well as Turkey and near the US embassy in Lebanon.
Hamas: Israel bears full responsibility for Gaza hospital carnage
Meanwhile, Hamas resistance movement said in a statement that the occupying Israeli regime bears complete responsibility for the strike on the Gaza hospital, and its blatant lies will fail to deceive people.
The movement said in a statement that the Tel Aviv regime is putting out a false front and pushing it with overt propaganda in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the massacre.
"Baptist Hospital and 22 other hospitals and medical facilities, housing medical staff, patients, and injured people, were all under threat from the fascist and occupying Israeli regime. Israel has bombed 23 ambulances and killed more than 25 doctors and members of their families so far," Hamas pointed out.
It continued, "They (Israeli forces) are the ones who killed more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians, 70% of whom were children and women, by destroying entire residential neighborhoods and 120,000 housing units."
"This horrible massacre was caused directly by the fascist Israeli regime, which provided multiple accounts of the events starting within the first hour of the carnage," Hamas concluded.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/27856
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